Containers of the "drawn-and-ironed" type exhibit three main points of failure when subjected to compressive loads such as occur when the cans are dropped either during normal handling, or when dropped from a storage position into a receiver portion of an automatic vending machine, for example, such failures tend to occur in the can's neck portion or its sidewall or in the can's bottom. A container is about to be described, however, wherein such failures occur most frequently in the container's bottom portion; and, moreover, can absorb relatively large quantities of energy before catastrophically failing in the sense that the container is no longer suited for its intended purpose.
According to the instant invention, when it is known that a properly constructed can should fail in its bottom-portion, neck and body failures are used to indicate specific structural defects in the cans and related malfunction in the can's press.